Kundalini Tantra Yoga
Kundalini Yoga is a science and a philosophy “to unite the finite with infinity”, ie, us with universal consciousness, hence eliminating any inner sense of duality, where we are all sacred, the centre for Brahman, one. Swami Satyananda Saraswati, in Kundalini Tantra, says kundalini “is the greatest discovery of tantra and yoga … (it) represents the coming consciousness of mankind.”
There is often a confusion between Kundalini Yoga and Kundalini Tantra Yoga. Both focus on the awakening of Kundalini Shakti, the dormant force or energy in the human organism. Tantric texts often refer to this as ‘primal power or energy’, the awakening of Kali that comes into union with Shiva, allowing for the emergence of Durga. This is the awakening of our unconscious, ascending to meet our higher consciousness, super-consciousness, which bestows ‘glory and beauty’.
We do this, practically, in Kundalini Yoga, primarily through the practices of various asanas, pranayama, mudras, and Hatha Yoga poses. In Kundalini Tantra Yoga we include many different meditations, rituals, visualization, and mantra recitations, connecting to our latent energy at the base of the spine through the Chakra system.
Breathing is the lynchpin in kundalini practices (in both Kundalini Yoga and Kundalini Tantra Yoga). Yogi Bhajan, who was a key proponent for bringing Kundalini Yoga to the West, back in 1968, emphasised that kundalini breathing had many benefits, not least managing our states of consciousness through the movement and balancing of our prana. Prana being our subtle life force which generates motion in the body. The purpose then of these practices is to help us dis-attach from the ego and so connect to our Higher Self.
However, there are some significant differences between Kundalini Yoga and Kundalini Tantra Yoga. It is often said Kundalini Yoga is associated with the sense of victory, over its highly physical, vigorous and technical aspects. Kundalini Tantra Yoga on the other hand is associated with surrender, being more gentle, loving and devotional.
Another difference between Kundalini Yoga and Kundalini Tantra Yoga tends to be their relationship to sexual practices, with Kundalini Yoga being more technical and sexless, while Kundalini Tantra Yoga uses our sexual practices to help explode our Kundalini. The priority for sexual practices is that we retain the bindu.
The bindu is the drop or point from which creation becomes manifested. This would initially have been in the centre of the brain, however, due to the development of our emotions and passions it has descended to the lower organs where it has been transformed into sperm. As spiritual experiences happen where the bindu is, tantra recognises sexual practices that will support this energy explosion.
However, it is important we recognise the difference between energy explosion and ejaculation. Sexual practices should not result in ejaculation as the energy explosion is an internal one. Much like multi-orgasmic practices, if we release the ‘drop’, the bindu, this inner explosion cannot take place. This is not so much to retain semen, but to retain our energy, lifted to our higher centres. As such, connecting Mooladhara (the Root Chakra) and Ajna (3rd Eye Chakra) are of paramount importance in our practices.
Bringing it all together
Whether you practice Kundalini Yoga or Kundalini Tantra Yoga will likely depend on your outlook towards victory and surrender, and sexual practices. For those who are aligned to neo-tantric practices, Kundalini Tantra Yoga offers a route to connect our sexual practices to our healing and spiritual journey, taking us from self-pleasure to self-loving and shared-loving practices that can help us transcend our attachments through a journey of surrender.
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